Microsoft Proposes Different WebRTC Standard

Wants more flexibility, a support for legacy devices.

Even though Google has proposed their own version of the WebRTC standard, it looks like the software giant has different ideas for the real time communication and they call it “Customizable, Ubiquitous Real Time Communication over the Web” or CU-RTC-Web.

So how exactly does it differ?

According to Matthew Kaufman, the principal architect for Microsoft Skype on WebRTC, they want more flexibility and implement technology on the legacy devices, “the history of voice over IP is filled with incompatibility”, he said.

However, those are not the only differences, while Mozilla and Google want to use a video codec from the search giant itself (VP8), Microsoft is not exactly a big supporter of the mentioned video compression format and their stance haven’t changed yet, “Flexibility in its support of popular media formats and codecs as well as openness to future innovation – A successful standard cannot be tied to individual codecs, data formats or scenarios.”, he said.

“At Microsoft, we have a bit of a more deliberate release cycle,” he said, suggesting that the company wouldn’t support the technology in its consumer products until it’s actually a standard. And, when asked specifically about Google’s support for WebRTC, he replied: “Our companies have a different way of working.”

“Flexibility in its support of popular media formats and codecs as well as openness to future innovation – A successful standard cannot be tied to individual codecs, data formats or scenarios.”

Whether or not Microsoft’s proposal will appear in the final draft, only time will tell.

[Via GigaOM]